Glimmerick

I often have a problem with procrastination.  I frequently put off a large portion of a project/job/report/etc until the last minute. Let me explain, in terms of a paper.  When I need to write a paper, I know that I should work on it as soon as possible, so that I don’t leave it all until the very end. So I jot down an idea here, write a few sentences there, and I think that I am making progress. As soon as I know it, the paper is due at tomorrow, and I have a paragraph or two.  All along, I had deceived myself that I was actually working on it, while actually I had just been picking at it, accomplishing nothing.  The blog Organize IT writes a nice post about the idea of dealing with something as it comes up, and I recommend you read it.  While reading his book, Sam Walton has a great answer to looming projects that I find really helpful to keep in mind:

Let’s be out front. Let’s do it right. Let’s get it done now and get on with it.

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A common idea has been running through my mind lately, and that is commitment is strongly correlated to ownership. Let me explain.  Take for instance a rental car.  I’m sure we’ve all either driven one, or at least rode in one. And let’s be honest, we just don’t take as good as care of these cars, as we do the cars we actually own.  In many cases, the care to make sure food doesn’t get on the seats is much less, the car is driven harder, etc.  Recently I heard this analogy about a hotel.  We treat a hotel much differently than we do our own house.  We leave things all over the floor, leave the bed unmade, don’t tidy up the bathroom, etc.  My point is, we care less about keeping these things nice because we have no ownership in these items.  Sure if we cause severe damage we are responsible to some extent, but the basics seem to go out the window.

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There is a saying that goes something like “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.”  The meaning of this is that one should not get caught up in the small details of something, while failing to see the larger picture.  This was the problem that Sam Walton vowed not to get caught up in when he was deciding whether or not to go along with discounting, or stick with the then popular variety store.

I wasn’t about to sit there and become a target. ~Sam Walton

He decided to take a chance and jump feet first into discounting, leaving his variety stores behind.  He never looked back, and now Walmart is a worldwide success.  Sometimes businesses, and individuals can be so caught up in something, that they fail to see the bigger picture.

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I know in my last post, I said that it was important to not stress out about reinventing the wheel. With extra time to spend concentrating on more innovative ideas, well… more innovative ideas may be brought about. For example, Sam Walton used other people’s ideas modeled his business after successful business around him. Instances of this were accounting, store fixtures, employment etc. This left plenty of time for him to research innovative business sales plans.

Buy it low, stack it high, sell it cheap. ~Sam Walton

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When I think of giant companies, such as Walmart, or maybe Macy’s or stores of that volume, I tend to think that they must have had really original ideas, or just operated differently than everyone else. However, in Walmart’s case, Sam Walton candidly says that most of the ideas for Walmart were not his.

Most everything I’ve done has been copied from someone else. ~Sam Walton

This took me by complete surprise. First off, I would have thought that to be that successful, he must have been creating original ideas right and left, and secondly, I would have thought that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have admitted that most of his ideas weren’t his. Sam Walton wasn’t that kind of guy, the kind to gloat about his success, so even this taught me a lesson. Don’t ever gloat about success, people won’t like it.

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I’m sure many of you remember this song by Chumbawamba. It is really catchy, yet the repeated lyrics serve as a reminder to how we should try to tackle life:

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never going to keep me down

This is one of the characteristics that Sam Walton has; perseverance. A lot of people believe that Walmart sort of just fell out of the sky, but that belief could not be farther from the truth. Mr. Walton had endured many, many set backs, yet his resilience kept him in the business. After losing his first profitable business because of a contract dispute, he was flabbergasted. He did not sit around and mope for days on end, rather he chose to take charge of his future, saying,

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.

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From the viewpoint of Sam Walton, those that didn’t take risks are not going to be at the top. Sure, one could run a successful business, take minimal risks. However in many cases, those businesses would not be at the top of their field. Many great leaders agree that the greatest opportunities in life may also require the greatest risks.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. -Robert F. Kennedy

This proves to be true in various walks of life, ranging from marriage to entrepreneurship. For example, if I was too afraid of all the unknowns about marriage, I could possibly miss out on the joy that a wife and kids can bring.

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